Underage driving among teens

sillineysarah

Hi all,

I just read the tragic story of the 15 year old boy who died in a car accident last night, and the other 4 boys aged 14-16 injured in the same car.

My daughter is 16 and in fourth year. She told me in the past that kids aged 15 and up sneak out and drive their parents cars at night (even said one boy was allowed). She showed me a snapchat video once of a few kids supposedly driving around at night. And once I saw a picture of a crashed BMW on her facebook and the boy had said "I guess we won't be driving around anymore lads". I've also heard of two girls who were meant to have gotten into a car in the middle of the night with other 4th year boys recently.

I live in south county Dublin.

So just wondering if anyone else has come across much of this? New trend or just something that always goes on among kids?

Obviously it's a pretty terrifying thought for those driving uninsured and inexperienced.. but also for the innocent bystander or road user they might hit. I didn't experience it as a teen for sure.

Toots

That's pretty scary alright. I live in south dublin too, and I'd never heard of it happening. I've a few relatives who are that age, but they live in the same housing estate, and the driveways are super narrow, so there's no way a novice driver would get the car out quickly enough not to get caught by the parents.

I'm only in my late 20s and that definitely wasn't something that went on when I was that age. My dad taught me to drive when I was 14, but that was on private property. If I ever had any notions of taking the car out at that age and my parents got wind of it, I'd probably have been padlocked in my room as soon as I got home from school. And if I'd stolen and then written off my parents' BMW I'd have been murdered, and I don't mean in the figurative sense.

RedDeadMarshal

Yeah new trend, it's not the underage driving that's causing a problem it's the brainless lads nowadays who instead of taking the car out for their own enjoyment to have a quick spin round the estate they go out on public roads get their mates in the car and that's an even bigger urge to show off. they want to impress their mates and that leads to nothing but trouble, the underage driver might be bullied into driving into completely different areas where the risk of an accident is very high. The novice driver is not to blame as I've seen plenty of adults my age who still can't drive, and when two idiots meet and they both don't know which way to avoid each other that's when accidents happen. But in the case of the 4 boys in clondalkin clearly the driver of the car was a young lad who probably only sat behind the wheel twice, who obviously doesn't know or feel how his car is behaving and what is capable off, some cars are more powerful than others, and some people confuse the brake pedal with the accelerator. Honestly I just like can't even think how could they lose the control of the car, it wasn't so much of the drivers fault I think it was more of his mates fault distracting him from paying attention to the road either that or the young lad was speeding so much that when he took a corner he understeered into the tree, but we do not know that. To the op i'd say to keep your daughter away from cars as kids nowadays have no fear, also they have no sense in them.

we'llallhavetea

not a new trend, i live in the country and when i was a teen young lads were always at this! the country is a lot easier to get away with it of course.

fValerie

Have you ever thought about GPS tracker for your cars. Using GPS Tracker you can monitor your car and your child's way of driving and get all the information. I use such tracker and feel rather confident in my son. What do you think about it?

Shannon757

fValerie wrote: »

Have you ever thought about GPS tracker for your cars. Using GPS Tracker you can monitor your car and your child's way of driving and get all the information. I use such tracker and feel rather confident in my son. What do you think about it?

I believe they mean a child "borrowing" their parent's gar and taking it for a spin with their mates, not young drivers in general

ted1

Not a new trend, we were doing it back At that age and also in South Dublin.